In my house growing up, when your birthday rolled around you got to make a special request for what the family would have for dinner, and every year without fail, I would ask my stepdad to make me twice-baked potatoes. He made them by scooping out the insides of tender baked potatoes and whipping them with butter, sour cream, and green onions before refilling the potato skins, loading the top with cheddar and bacon and popping them back in the oven to get hot and melty. They were entirely indulgent and entirely delicious. Now, to achieve those two qualities you could make them just as he did, or you could take the same ingredients and fashion them into a creamy and comforting casserole that makes it a little easier to feed a crowd. We did just that and it’s everything you could want a casserole to be.

This casserole starts with baking some whole potatoes, just like you would with a traditional twice-baked potato, but here you just have to chop the potatoes up when they’re cooked. There’s no scooping and refilling to be done, so the process is a little easier.

The chopped potatoes get mixed with some mayo and sour cream, as well as some grated cheddar, green onion, and crispy bacon before they head into the casserole dish. More cheddar and bacon go on top… because this is still supposed to be an indulgent meal, okay?

Everything bakes together into a cohesive, sliceable kind of comfort. It’s a slightly different experience than the traditional twice-baked — maybe not quite as fluffy, but still utterly creamy, cheesy, and delicious, and with a preparation easy enough that you don’t need a special occasion to justify it.